Creating 1980s Wardrobe Looks for "Casey Makes a Mixtape"
- Casey Makes A Mixtape
- Dec 8, 2025
- 2 min read
In a previous post we talked about the key elements we used to create an authentic 1980s look for our film Casey Makes a Mixtape, and those included:
Period art direction & props — Vintage furniture, classic cars, and an authentic 1981 jambox from eBay
Wardrobe & hair — Thrift store treasure hunts, replica vintage clothes, and plenty of “Farrah Fawcett” Google searches
Color grading & film look — Achieved through FilmConvert Nitrate, CineMatch, and meticulous post-production work
And in this post we'll take a peek at the wardrobe and hair.
This being a low-budget indie film our Costume Designer Jamie Little-Puente and Make-up & Hair Stylist Cheryll Smith had their work cut out for them. The old adage is never to do a period piece with limited resources, but here they used that to get creative.
Jamie raided thrift stores and even Target for period-perfect clothes. And Cheryll went full Farrah Fawcett using early ’80s reference images from Google — the final looks sold the 1980s illusion completely and didn’t break the bank.
Watch this short behind-the-scenes look at our cast doing wardrobe fittings and also continuity shots during the film:
And then check out our Official Trailer 2 to see it all come together:
Read more here if you're interested in some of the post-production and color grading techniques we used to really help sell the 1981 look in the film.
You can watch the movie right now on Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, YouTube Movies or Google Play.
Direct links for each VOD platform are below:
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